Aspen

The Wheeler Real Estate Transfer Tax, and the multiple questions in Basalt about the Pan and Fork land parcel, will both have effects on art-focused nonprofits. Aspen Public Radio’s Patrick Fort spoke with Gena Buhler from the Wheeler Opera House and Genna Moe from The Art Base to see how each would be affected by November’s votes.

Shakespeare in the Park has been an Aspen staple for a decade. “As You Like It” is one of Shakespeare’s more fantastical plays, and is this year’s work of choice from the Bard. But rather than using more fantastical tropes like in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “As You Like It” is described as a pastoral comedy.

When Tom Voss and Anthony Anderson returned from their tours of duty in Iraq, they came back changed men. They were dealing with moral injuries, more than physical ones. Both were dealing with post traumatic stress disorder.

Mark Beauregard was a reporter, but made a decision to write a book after thinking about Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Melville had a close relationship with Nathaniel Hawthorne, another American writer. They wrote letters to each other that suggest that they were more than friends. Melville’s writing was often about his life, yet Moby Dick is almost always seen as an allegory. Beauregard was struck by this comparison and decided to write about the relationship between Melville and Hawthorne.

Colorado is investing millions of dollars in the arts throughout the state. The money supports film, public art programs and the state’s creative district program, which tries to help rural economies grow through the arts. In the Roaring Fork Valley, municipalities are figuring out ways to incorporate public art, and make their towns a great place to support artists. In just the past month, the relationship between the arts and government has evolved.

This year's Red Brick Center for the Arts Plein Air Festival comes to a close Sunday. “Plein Air” is a French term, meaning “in full or open air”. That’s the attraction for the nearly two dozen participants, including Peter Campbell, of Durango.

The Aspen Art Museum held its annual ArtCrush fundraising event on Friday. The museum netted $2.5 million, and was exactly what was expected, according to Aspen Art Museum CEO Heidi Zuckerman. That number is the same compared to last year’s event.

It was announced last week that the Wheeler Opera House received over $100,000 to supplement its programming budget. Executive director Gena Buhler said this new money will mean bigger acts, and steadier ticket prices for locals. Buhler spoke with arts reporter Patrick Fort about what this all means.

All week, Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo has been practicing his moves for his debut dance performance on Friday at Aspen Santa Fe Ballet’s premiere fundraiser, Dancing with the Stars. Community members dance with ballet company members in competition against one another.

Lynn Goldsmith’s “The Looking Glass” exhibit continues at the Art Base in Basalt. The show features wildly distorted self-portraits, in which Goldsmith contorts her body. Some photos look pastoral — others are straight out of a Tim Burton Film.